Motherhood
by Meum Cerebrum Nocet
Summary: The minute the potion turned pink, her entire life shifted. Nothing would ever be the same. Drastoria


_**Summary:**_ _The minute the potion turned pink, her entire life shifted. Nothing would ever be the same. Drastoria._

 _ **Disclaimer:**_ _I don't own any recognizable content._

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 **Motherhood**

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 _Motherhood has a very humanizing effect. Everything gets reduced to essentials._

 _~Meryl Streep_

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Three minutes.

It doesn't seem like a long length of time. Normally, it's just a blip in a long day. But, when your entire life come downs to three minutes, that small blip can stretch out to infinity. When the rest of your life could change once those three minutes are up, they can seem like a lifetime.

Once the three minutes were up, she would know. Until then, though, Astoria paced. Whenever she was anxious, she paced. And she was currently the most anxious she had ever been.

Thinking back on it, her current situation had its roots about a year and a half ago, when she innocently walked into a coffee shop and saw him sitting there. Draco Malfoy. Her childhood friend. Her current situation went back to that exact moment.

They'd been dating ever since then, exclusively, but not super seriously. They weren't living together, hadn't even really talked about what their future looked like. Draco and Astoria definitely were not ready for this.

Astoria glanced at her watch.

Two more minutes.

She'd been feeling nauseated for weeks now, throwing up nearly every day. At first, she just thought it was food poisoning or the flu, but when it didn't subside after a few days other scenarios began playing themselves out in her mind. As time passed, one scenario became the most prominent, despite her trepidation and constant denials.

'I can't be pregnant. It's not possible and in less than two minutes, this little potion will make that clear. Just two more minutes.'

As Astoria waited, she began to contemplate and wonder. What _would_ motherhood and having a baby be like? Would it be the end of the world? She was still young, only 23, but she'd done a lot of living in those twenty-three years. She had a job as a healer at St. Mungos and, while she may need to take some time off, a baby wouldn't cast her that job. As well, despite her younger age, Astoria wasn't a partier, so a baby wouldn't cramp her style or anything.

From a completely practical standpoint, actually being pregnant and having a baby wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. In fact, it might even be a fun, enjoyable experience.

Babies were absolutely adorable, and one that was half her and half the good-looking Draco Malfoy would be something special. She could already imagine the sweet face smiling up at her; cheeks rosy, eyes shimmering with joy, and a toothless mouth letting escape small baby giggles.

And then, as the baby got older, watching first steps and hearing first words, the image only got rosier. She imagined Draco, a smile that he only shared with her plastered on his face, playing with the toddler, tossing him into the air as he shrieked with joy. Or Draco teaching a three or four-year-old how to fly and play Quidditch.

As the images played themselves through her mind, a smile crossed her face. For the first time since the possibility of her being with child manifested itself in her mind, she was actually excited for the possibility.

A small bell dinged. Time was up. All she had to do was look down at the potion and see her future. Pink meant pregnant, a baby. Colourless meant nothing, no pregnancy, no baby. That one, slight difference in colour would change everything.

Slowly, Astoria looked at the potion sitting on her dining room table. A shriek of glee passed through her lips.

'Pink!'

The potion was pink!

She was pregnant!

She was going to have a baby!

She and Draco were going to have a baby!

'Draco!'

She's have to tell Draco.

What if he wasn't excited?

What if he didn't want a baby?

Slowly, Astoria's smile dropped from her face and her excitement dissipated.

'How will Draco react?'

* * *

Astoria went right from stressing about being pregnant to stressing about how she would tell Draco. They'd never had a serious talk about their future. They'd never even joked or mussed about where they would be in the future. Astoria didn't even know if Draco wanted kids.

She fretted and stressed about how she would tell him and how he would respond for two whole days. Then she decided, in much the same way as she had when she bought her pregnancy test, that the not knowing and the stressing was worse. She had to get it over with and, once she knew, then she could deal with it.

So, she sent him a vague and cryptic owl asking him to meet with her as soon as possible because she had something to tell him. Draco's response was quick, and a little concerned, and said they could meet for lunch on Monday. Astoria had hoped they could have the conversation in private, but this was probably the best she could get on limited details.

Astoria walked into their café, the one where they'd first met, the one that they'd gone to on countless dates. Her palms were sweating and her entire body was shocking. Never in her life, even when she was facing Lord Voldemort's cronies at Hogwarts, had she been this nervous. Her entire future was at stake.

Draco was sitting at a table secluded off to a corner. At least they'd get a little bit of privacy. For his part, Draco looked almost as anxious as she did. Hopefully, at the end of their dinner both of them would be relieved and joyful, but she wasn't going to get too optimistic about it.

"Thanks for meeting me, Draco. Sorry about being so cryptic in my note, but I felt this was better off said in person." Astoria, her nerves shot, decided to just dive right in. "I know we haven't really talked about our plans, for the future and everything, but events have transpired to make it a conversation we need to have."

Astoria momentarily paused and took several deep breaths to steady herself before she pushed on. "Draco, I- I'm pregnant."

Her statement was met with silence. Astoria had found it far too difficult to look at Draco, so she'd dropped her gaze to her hands and hadn't looked up. If Draco was going to rage or reject her, he could do that without her looking at him.

Then, suddenly, a scraping sound echoed throughout their small corner. Was he leaving? Without saying anything? Astoria's head shot up as rage coursed through her veins. And her eyes met a Draco on bended knee; an elegant, gleaming ring nestled in a plus box clutched in his hands.

"Astoria, with or without the baby, I would be asking this. Will you marry me?"

 _The End_


End file.
